Bredgar, Kent
Historical Description
Bredgar, a parish in Kent, among the chalk hills, 3 miles SSW of Sittingbourne station on the L.C. & D.R. It has a post and money order office under Sittingbourne; telegraph office, Borden. Acreage, 1762; population, 570. Bredgar House is a chief residence. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £139 with residence. The church is Perpendicular English, with a curious Norman doorway under the tower, has Roman bricks in its walls, contains a brass of 1508, and is in good condition. A chantry or small college was founded in it in the time of Richard II. by Robert de Bredgar. There is a Wesleyan chapel, built in 1868.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Kent | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Bredgar St. John the Baptist | |
Hundred | Milton | |
Lathe | Scray | |
Poor Law union | Milton |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1559.
Findmypast have the following online for Bredgar, St John the Baptist: baptisms 1540-1919, marriages 1559-1919, burials 1557-1922
Churches
Church of England
St. John the Baptist (parish church)
The church of St. John the Baptist is of flint and stone, in the Perpendicular style, and has a western tower containing a clock, the gift in 1902 of Charles E. Homewood esq. of Tunstall, and 5 bells: there are two brasses: the organ was given in 1908 by the then vicar: the church was partially restored in 1894, and affords 200 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Bredgar from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bredgar (St. John the Baptist))
Maps
Online maps of Bredgar are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.